26. Noelle

Makingit into the camp wasn"t too hard, but it turned out that stealth was. I hated the evil grin on the smuggler"s mouth as he clamped his hand around my arm and tried to drag me somewhere. I struggled, but he was freaking strong.

No matter how hard I hit or struggled, his grip didn"t let up. But I had to get out, had to find Ryklin.

Then the smuggler pulled out a knife, and I screamed. His grin grew even more malicious. "Gonna cut up the pretty lady," he crooned.

"Please, don"t." He lazily swiped the knife my way, and I jerked back, just out of reach. That only made the smuggler laugh.

Then his eyes widened at something behind me, and he tried to pull me forward, "Move!" he commanded.

Not a chance in all the hells. I couldn"t break out of his grasp, but he couldn"t drag me quickly without my help. And if he wanted to move, I was going to stay put. But I didn"t dare look behind me to see what was coming our way.

The smuggler swore and yanked me closer, raising the knife to press it to my throat. "One move and the bitch gets it."

"Denya," said a voice so low and dangerous it was like hearing a monster whisper in your ear. I shivered, but it wasn"t from fear. I looked up to find my mate standing there, looking feral. He had blood streaking down his torso, but he didn"t look injured.

The smuggler stepped back, pulling me with him and slicing the blade lightly across my neck. It stung, and I could feel a warm trickle of blood.

Ryklin growled.

"Let me go, and she"s yours," the smuggler said.

Ryklin shook his head, but he didn"t move. "She"s already mine."

I was. With all my heart I was.

"You"re going to die," Ryklin told the man. "You"re going to take your last breath, and then she"s going to be free."

"I"ll take her with—" He dropped, the knife falling out of his hand as his skin smoked from a blaster shot I hadn"t seen coming.

Ryklin rushed forward and pulled me into his arms. "Denya, are you alright?"

"Fine. I"m fine." I nuzzled my face into his chest and breathed in the scent of my mate. "Are you okay?" He was the reason I was here. My encounter with the smugglers was only a few minutes long; they"d had him for hours. And he was covered in blood.

"Yes." But his hand was shaking where it rested against my back, the tips of his claws scratching gently at my spine.

"The blood?"

"Not mine. Mine would be green." And the blood soaking into his clothes was dark and red. Human.

Maybe I should have been more concerned about him killing people, but there was a bruise blooming on my wrist, and I"d heard the stories Astrid told us. If anyone deserved it, it was these smugglers.

I ran my hand down the mostly clean parts of his shirt, needing to reassure myself that he was all here in one piece. I touched his cheek, and he leaned into it, pressing a kiss to the palm of my hand. I slid my other hand through his hair and felt some sort of tension I hadn"t known was there release.

He held me as though he was afraid if he let go, he"d never hold me again.

But we were in the middle of the smugglers camp, and Astrid and her people were under attack. I forced myself to step back. "Did you find comms? Did you send a message?"

"Yes. If they heard it, they"ll come."

That was a big if, given the people that had been stranded here for a decade.

"Astrid was coming with me, but someone attacked the village. We have to go help." If we ran, it would still take the better part of an hour to get back. Would they still be holding out?

"I think I heard most of the smugglers head out awhile ago. Let"s take a minute, try and find some weapons or a vehicle. We need to be smart about this." He was all soldier now.

I was still just a mechanic. I"d never even held a blaster.

But Ryklin took one out of the holster of the man he"d killed, the one who"d held a knife to my neck, and handed it over. "It"s simple enough. Point and hit the trigger. Don"t point it at anyone you don"t want to hit. Watch the charge level on the handle. It"ll recharge automatically, but if you fire too much, it could overheat. Got it?"

"Uh, sure?" I didn"t sound confident.

"Shoot that building." He pointed towards a wall on the opposite side of the street.

"What did that building ever do to you?" My hand was shaky as I raised it up, but I hit the trigger, and a blast of red light shot out and scorched a mark near the door. Not quite where I"d been aiming, but Ryklin didn"t need to know that.

"Now you"ve shot a blaster. Got it?"

"I guess." I would have happily taken another week"s worth of lessons before running off into battle, but we didn"t have the luxury.

And we didn"t know who was still lurking in the mining camp. Neither of us wanted to go much deeper in. If there were prisoners, there would be guards. And though my heart hurt at the thought of the people there, we didn"t have the force to free them.

Not yet.

But once we were back home on Nebula Outpost, I"d do everything in my power to see these smugglers stopped and these people freed.

Not that I had much power.

We found an old two-seater power bike and climbed on. It sputtered to life and limped for the first few meters, but then something in the engine turned over, and the ride was smooth as Ryklin navigated us through the dark forest with only the dim headlamp in front of us.

I would have gotten us lost in a minute. Good thing I"d found my soldier to lead us back.

The bike was faster than running, and we could hear the sounds of battle as we crested the hill that led into the encampment.

I was scared we"d find a smoking ruin. There was definitely smoke, but the survivors were fighting back.

The first body we saw was of a dead smuggler. The next three were wearing clothes from the encampment, though I hadn"t seen them alive. Ryklin stopped the bike before we drove into the heart of the fighting.

"You need to find cover," he said, face serious. "I"m going to end this."

I wanted to argue. These people had helped me as much as they"d helped him. Surely I could be useful. I had a blaster! But I wasn"t a soldier, and Ryklin was right.

I pulled him close and kissed him. It was brief and fierce, and it promised more as soon as we got through this. "Come back to me."

"Always." And then he was off.

I was on the edge of the encampment, and while the bodies were proof there"d been fighting, it had moved on from there. But the camp wasn"t big, and I could hear screams and cries as people fought.

How long could it last?

I almost tripped over Astrid"s body and had to clamp a hand to my mouth to keep from crying out.

Then I saw her chest rise and fall, just a bit. Just enough. She was alive. Clinging to life there at the edge. But she needed medical assistance, and we didn"t even have any med gel.

We were in the middle of the walking path. If any of the smugglers came that way, they"d see us. But I couldn"t just leave Astrid there after she"d given us so much help. But you weren"t supposed to move someone when they were injured, right?

I really wished I"d kept up with the first aid training, and it would be on my list of things to do when I got home. I even made a silent promise to the gods about it. Promises weren"t going to help me now.

Blood was pumping sluggishly out of a wound on her side. There was a shack on the other side of the path. If we could make it there, there might be supplies, and there would definitely be cover.

Decision made, I hooked my arms under Astrid"s armpits and began to drag her, wincing as she moaned in pain. But at least that meant she was alive. I tried to take comfort in that, but I hated to cause pain.

The shack was bare inside, not a strip of fabric to be found. With no better idea, I stripped off my own top and used a jagged piece of wood to tear the fabric. It was harder than I expected, the fabric hardy. I bunched some of it up and used it as a pad while I wrapped the ragged strips around Astrid"s torso.

Then I reached for my blaster, ready to guard the door against anyone who might try to come for us.

Except it wasn"t in my pocket.

I peeked onto the path and saw it glinting on the ground, the metal reflected in the moonlight. I didn"t want any of the smugglers picking it up, and no one seemed to be around. I had to risk running for it.

Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I darted onto the path and scooped it up. The night was chilly, especially with only a bar on the upper half of my body.

The sounds of fighting had quieted. Was it over now? Dying down? Who was winning?

I was supposed to stay under cover, but with the blaster in my hand, I felt just a little invincible. I crept just a bit farther down the path, keeping as best as I could to the shadows, but trying to see what was going on.

And that was when I saw Ryklin fall limply to the ground.